Ladies Newsletter May

Hi all, time for another newsletter! It’s been such a busy month; I’m not really sure where to start! First of all, a very warm welcome to new members Louise Upston, Rebecca Conran and Jo Morris.

It’s great to see so many ladies out there running, both in training and also racing at various distances. I know a lot of you have events coming up too. I don’t get to Wednesday training very often, but I know you have all been enjoying the sessions run by Chris, Vicky, Caroline and Matt, especially now the evenings are light and the green and the roads can be used more. On Fridays I see a lot of people working really hard, and your improved times can be seen in the race results!

I’m not going to talk much about races, as I will just end up rehashing the already excellent race reports from our team of roving reporters. However, it was good to see Leoni Harvey racing again, and so many running races on Super Sunday! I ran Hatfield Broad Oak 10k yesterday with Hien chasing and catching me easily for most of the race. Don’t know if you realise Hien, but your Colchester 10k time was 60:19, and yesterday’s time was 53:26, a huge improvement, especially when you consider the wind and hills, compared to Colchester! Claire Groves ran her first sub 50 10k at Hatfield too, and Louise Upston and Rebecca Conran attacked this race with enthusiasm and the frequent use of jazz hands! Great to see Bee and Ruth going all the way to Edinburgh for their half marathon too. Vicky P capped the month off for us by being first lady at Framlingham 5, covering the club with glory again! I would encourage everyone to have a go at some of the Friday 5 races, it is a great little series. The next one is at Kirton on Friday 3rd June, sadly I can’t make it as this is my favourite of them all, but it’s a lovely course with pb potential, go on, give it a go!

Our very own Mickey Edwards series has got off to a flying start too, I am looking forward to seeing your times improve over the series!

I have been trying to mix things up a bit on Sundays, with some different routes to try. The week before last at Brightlingsea was excellent, so many people turned out, the weather was great and so was the route. Rhubarb crumble ice cream afterwards was just the ticket, and the breakfasts at the café looked good, I feel a brekkie run coming on in the near future! Thanks to Scott Young (even though he’s not a lady) and Linzi Iddon for the idea. This coming Sunday we are running along the seafront at Clacton, meeting at the Martello café, hope to see lots of you there!

There was a good turnout for Rodger’s Trail run at Alton Water too, another excellent route, very picturesque, and just under 9 miles, if you followed the directions! I had a lovely run with Lorna and Caroline and really enjoyed it. If you haven’t tried one yet, come along, you won’t be disappointed!

Dates for your diary:

Sunday 5th June club run from the Martello Café, Clacton.

Round 2 of Mickey Edwards is Wednesday, 8th June, in fact the next 3 races are all in June.

There is a track training session booked for Friday 17th June at Ipswich Northgate Sports Centre, a good opportunity to train on the more forgiving surface of the athletic track under Michael’s eagle eye!

Rodger’s next trail run is on Sunday 26th June, at Dedham and will be around 13 miles.

Runner of the Month.

This month has been a difficult choice, as so many ladies have been out there training and racing and racking up the PBs. Karen and I had a little chat though and felt the award should go to one of our newer members. This Bentley Babe has really been throwing herself into both racing and training with gusto, she has run multiple ParkRuns, Mickey Edwards, Rodger’s Trail run, Colchester 10k, and Hatfield Broad Ok 10k. Quite a lot of racing in one month! Her 5k and 10k times have improved with every race, and she always has a smile on her face. Louise Upston, you are our Runner of the Month for May.